Academic literature on the topic 'Efficiency of measures'

9 actions - Sensoric measures for eternal efficiency is a project negotiating with the consequences of modernist urban planning and its infrastructure which has produced phenomenons like “non-places”, places which neither become or are used according to the procedure of care that our public spaces require. Situated within this idea, I establish a methodology which is formulated as an eternal site analysis, which showcases the process as total and in constant transition, a perspective that rather than becoming an dogma aims to question the raised methodology in relation to site and the analysis within the field of interior architecture. The methodologies aim to embody the sequence of time and space, to bodily engage our senses and re-evaluate the relation to the surrounding environment. This is captured in 9 actions inspired by methods within performance, architecture and installation art. The sequence is examined with different mediums, such as filmmaking, drawings, 3d scans, diagrams, sound recordings, photographs and various other interpretations. A compilation of these acts emphasizes the importance of the methodology of the process and its ability to reconfigure. Concluded and executed at Konstfacks Spring exhibition 2021, visitors were invited to interact with a selection of actions examined during the project. Described below, 3 of the exhibited sequences: “REPET Workshop”; as an act of instruction to understand and question the bodily configuration of normative behaviours in relation to sites. “Pedestrian Measures”; a documented act where the participant was dressed in a reflective apparatus in order to experience irregularities hidden in the spatial hierarchy of sites - as fields of perceived space. “Den gemensamma kroppen”; A collective act, pronounced as the common body of the space. An installation where visitors were invited to dress and interact bodily to engage full focus. A reflective action configuring the use of the body and its sensory abilities in context of common spatial production.

Living in a cold, damp home is harmful to physical and mental health. Household energy efficiency measures, often installed to reduce carbon emissions, should make it easier and more affordable for residents to maintain a warm, comfortable environment, thereby reducing cold-related illnesses and associated stress. However, the expected health benefits are often not seen and concerns have been raised of unplanned, detrimental effects on health. A series of studies was conducted to investigate the relationship between household energy efficiency measures and the health of residents using three different approaches. Initially, the mechanisms by which such health benefits may be achieved were investigated via continuous indoor environmental monitoring in a number of case study homes and a questionnaire-based survey of residents following a council retrofit scheme. A meta-analysis of the extant evidence then identified a positive impact from household energy efficiency measures on health. Finally, professionals involved in the planning or implementation of household energy efficiency schemes were interviewed to determine the extent to which health is considered in organisational and individual objectives. The present research contributes to the design of effective energy efficiency policies and interventions. The presence of household energy efficiency measures was found to have a positive effect on health on average, particularly for residents vulnerable to the impacts of fuel poverty due to their age, health or income. Physical and perceived changes to the home environment were identified as the key consecutive components of the mechanism for this effect. Future research that comprehensively assesses long-term health impacts alongside short-term changes in wellbeing would contribute to the promotion of household energy efficiency measures. The need was recognised, though, for a holistic, collaborative approach to address individual needs and overcome institutional barriers in order to achieve concurrent environmental, economic, social and health benefits.

The impeding climate change challenge urges for a reduction of energy use in the built environment. Buildings account for nearly 40% of the total energy use and about 35% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. EU member states are required to improve the energy efficiency of the existing building stock, for example by sharpening building regulations and developing enforcement schemes. Since energy efficiency retrofits can affect irreplaceable values in heritage buildings, heritage buildings are often excluded from mandatory demands aiming at reducing the energy use in buildings. However, saving energy have gradually become embraced by the conservation community and heritage buildings with are seen as part of the solution. This licentiate thesis discusses the methods to identify heritage significance in a building and how the underlying theory determines different scenarios in a energy retrofitting process. The choice of conservation theory and conservation approach will affect the success the energy retrofitting process and determine how much the energy use that can be reduced. This thesis therefore suggests a framework to understand the different interpretation of the impacts that one could exert either by having an Objectivistic or Relative conservation value approach.. Based on this framework, a decision-support tool is developed to further detail the impacts of such approaches for different energy measures. Other results show that a majority of reviewed research publications focused on the operational energy in a building and only a few were concerned with energy use over the entire life- cycle of a building. These analyses are used to evaluate where most energy savings can be made, and often pinpoint weak spots in the building’s envelope or technical system. If it was mentioned at all, the influence of cultural and historical factors on energy efficiency measures as applied to heritage buildings tended to be assessed only briefly. Indeed, the majority does not describe conservation principles or even mention the methodology used – if any – for assessing or defining heritage values. Instead, researchers often show an explicit (sometimes an implicit) understanding of conservation as essentially something that is not destructive of original construction material and hence the authenticity of a building. This licentiate thesis is a compilation thesis, consisting of one separate sub-study, one literature review and an extended cover essay. The study is oriented towards a Swedish and European context, especially when it comes to climate conditions and discussions on building regulations and the theory and practice of architectural conservation. It addresses the growing research field of energy efficiency in heritage buildings and the thesis aims to contribute to an increased understanding on how the process of assessment and evaluation of heritage significance in buildings affects the making of heritage buildings more energy efficient. The main research question is: How do different approaches for assessing and evaluating heritage significance in buildings affect possible technical energy saving measures in heritage buildings?<br>Klimatförändringarna driver utvecklingen mot att energianvändningen i den byggda miljön behöver minska. Byggnader står för nästan 40% av den totala energianvändningen och cirka 35% av utsläppen av växthusgaser i Europa. EUs medlemsländer är bundna att förbättra energieffektiviteten hos befintliga byggnader, till exempel genom att skärpa byggreglerna och utveckla handlingsplaner. Eftersom energieffektiviseringar kan påverka värden i kulturhurhistoriska byggnader, är dessa ofta undantagna från krav som syftar till att minska energianvändningen i byggnader. Energibesparing och resurshushållning har gradvis blivit omfamnad av kulturmiljösektorn och kulturhistoriska byggnader betraktas allt mer som en del av lösningen på klimatförändringarna. I licentiatavhandlingen diskuteras metoderna för att identifiera kulturhistoriska värden i en byggnad och hur den underliggande teorin påverkar olika scenarier i en energieffektiviseringprocess. Valet av bevarandeteori och bevarandestrategi påverkar framgångsfaktorn i energieffektivseringen och hur mycket energianvändningen i en kulturhistorisk byggnad kan minskas. I denna avhandling föreslås därför ett teoretiskt ramverk för att förstå effekterna av de olika kulturhistoriska bedömningar som kan göras, antingen genom att använda ett objektivistiskt eller en relativ syn på hur en en byggnads kulturhistoriska värden skapas och bäst bevaras. Utifrån detta teoretiska ramverk har ett stöd för beslutsfattande utvecklats för att ytterligare beskriva effekterna av de olika bevarandestrategiernas påverkan på implementeringen av olika energieffektiviserande åtgärder. Andra resultat visar att en majoritet av de granskade forskningspublikationerna fokuserade på den operativa energin i en byggnad och bara ett fåtal gällde energianvändning under hela livscykeln i en byggnad. Dessa analyser används för att utvärdera var de flesta energibesparingar kan göras och ofta identifiera svaga punkter i byggnadens klimatskal eller tekniska system. Om det nämndes alls tenderade inflytandet av kulturella och historiska faktorer på energieffektivitetsåtgärder som tillämpas på arvsbyggnader endast att bedömas kortfattat. Faktum är att majoriteten av de genomgångna publikationerna inte beskriver bevarandeprinciper och inte nämner den metod som används för att bedöma eller definiera kulturhistoriska värden. Istället används ofta en explicit (ibland en implicit) förståelse för bevarande som i huvudsak något som inte förstör ursprungligt material och därmed autenticitet i en byggnad. Denna licentiatavhandling består av en separat undersökning, en litteraturöversikt och en utökad kappa. Studien är inriktad på ett svenskt och europeiskt sammanhang, särskilt när det gäller klimatförhållanden och diskussioner om byggregler och teori och praktik för kulturhistoriskt bevarande av byggnader. Den är en del av det växande forskningsområdet energieffektivisering i kulturhistoriska byggnader och avhandlingen syftar till att bidra till en ökad förståelse för hur utvärderingen av kulturhistoriska värden i byggnader påverkar arbetet med att göra dem mer energieffektiva. Huvudforskningsfrågan är: Hur påverkar olika metoder för bedömning och utvärdering av kulturhistoriska värden energibesparande åtgärder i kulturhistoriska byggnader?

The thesis work is part of a larger project financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and awarded by RINA Consulting S.p.A.. Azeri Retail will receive the loan from EBRD in order to refurbish its six new acquisitions in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azeri Retail considers the current Fresco format store a good technological and structural level, therefore Azeri Retail would like to replicate this state also for the new acquisitions. The thesis objective is to understand and analyse the current energy efficiency state and consequently propose some resource efficiency measures in order to replicate this new format for the new acquisitions to have a lower carbon footprint compared to the existing supermarkets belonging to the same brand. The thesis project is an energy audit comprising analysis of historical data, site visit to current Azeri Retail’s stores and consequent proposal of energy saving measures to be applied to the new acquisitions. In order to do this, three case studies have been developed: ATL, Project and REM. The first step has been the literature review about the energy utilization and carbon footprint of the retails sector, past energy audits, current and future policy framework in Azerbaijan. During this phase, it turned out that Azerbaijan doesn’t have a dedicated law for energy efficiency and therefore the construction phase doesn’t consider energy efficiency a primary target. Furthermore, in average the refrigerators represent the 40% of the total energy consumption of the supermarket. The site visit in Baku highlighted huge differences between the two brands’ buildings owned by Azeri Retail: Fresco brand belongs to high structural and technological level supermarkets, while Sebet doesn’t have any insulation on the envelope and the technical equipment is rather old. Microsoft Excel have been used in order to create the tool to perform the calculations. The thermal losses considered are the transmission losses, due to the building envelope, and the ventilation losses, due to the temperature difference between the exhaust indoor air and outdoor air. The internal gains are included in the model, in particular occupancy and solar loads. Furthermore, every case study considers different technical equipment according to what it is representing. All three built case studies refer to the geometry of the Fresco 2 building, since the comparison is more valuable if the buildings considered have similar geometry and activity inside. The ultimate aim of the modelling phase is to achieve good savings through measures in the REM case, since it is supposed to represent a useful list of saving measures to carry out during the actual refurbishment of the new stores. The measures proposed are: refurbishment of the envelope, purchase of a heat recovery heat exchanger, the exploitation of daylight through solar tubes and installation of LED bulbs, the refurbishment of cold rooms and the installation of double air curtains in the open refrigerated display cabinets. Great and positive results have been achieved during the modelling phase: ➢ Fresco stores can show very good structural properties and technological equipment and for this reason, each saving measures is additional to the already existing Fresco’s buildings status. ➢ Although Fresco stores’ buildings are better than Sebet stores’ ones and better than average practice in Azerbaijan, huge savings have been identified and this means that the new acquisitions could perform even better than the existing ones, mostly considering medium-low cost measures. The report closes with the overall comparison between the three case studies’ energy consumption and international benchmarks about food driven retails.

Empirical evidence shows that ensembles with adequate levels of pairwise diversity among a set of accurate member algorithms significantly outperform any of the individual algorithms. As a result, several diversity measures have been developed for use in optimizing ensembles. We show that diversity measures that properly combine the diversity space in an additive and multiplicative manner, not only result in ensembles whose accuracy is comparable to the naive ensemble of choosing the most accurate learners, but also results in ensembles that are significantly more efficient than such naive ensembles. In addition to diversity measures found in the literature, we submit two measures of diversity that span the diversity space in unique ways. Each of these measures considers not only the diversity of ratings between a pair of algorithms, but how this diversity relates to the target values.

Energy efficiency improvements in the residential sector have manybenefits, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy security,creating jobs and improving living conditions. There is a large potential to improveenergy efficiency in existing Swedish residential buildings. Many of the energyefficiency measures that can be implemented in buildings may be cost effective.However, the successful implementation of efficiency measures depends onmultiple factors, including the attitudes and perceptions of the relevant actors. Insingle‐family houses the homeowners are important actor in the diffusion ofenergy efficiency measures as they are the final decision makers regarding whetherto adopt such measures. An adopter‐centric approach was used to studyhomeowners’ adoption and intention to adopt energy efficiency measures. Twomail‐in questionnaire surveys of owners of single‐family houses were conducted;one was a national survey, and the other was sent to selected households in twocounties that had installed energy‐efficient windows. The government fundedchange agents and private actors like sellers/installers could influencehomeowners’ adoption decisions. Accordingly, a survey of municipality energyadvisers across Sweden and window sellers/installers in Jämtland County wasconducted to understand their perception and attitude towards energy efficiencymeasures.The results show that the majority of homeowners considered it importantto reduce their household energy use, with most of them preferred to undertakeno‐cost measures (e.g., switching off lights). The majority of respondinghomeowners (70-90%) did not intend to improve their building envelopecomponents mainly because they were satisfied with their existing components.Investment costs and annual energy cost savings were the most importantfactors in the adoption of energy‐efficient building envelope measures.Homeowners who considered their energy costs to be high were more likely toadopt an energy efficiency investment measure compared to those who thoughttheir energy costs were low. Though the majority of homeowners did not considertheir energy cost as high still they considered it important to reduce householdenergy cost. Therefore, economic incentives may induce homeowners to adoptsuch measures. Increasing the energy price may induce more homeowners toadopt energy efficiency measures as the higher energy price may further improvethe cost effectiveness of such measures. However, majority of homeowners did notconsider energy and CO2 taxes as effective policy instruments that encourage themto adopt energy efficiency measures.iiHomeowners considered interpersonal sources, builders, sellers andinstallers to be important sources of information regarding the adoption of energyefficiency measures. Energy advice service could be an important policy tool topromote energy efficiency, but about 50% of the homeowners are unaware of thisservice. Only 14% of homeowners had consulted an energy adviser out of which57% (i.e. 8% to total respondents) had implemented the suggestions. Hence, moreefforts are needed to increase awareness and effectiveness of energy advice service.The majority of municipal energy advisers were of the opinion that increasedfinancial support and more training in technical aspects of energy issues couldimprove their performance.Actors close to homeowners in the supply chain, such as sellers andinstallers, could play an important role in homeowners’ adoption of energyefficiency measures. Approximately 97% of responding homeowners who receiveda recommendation about particular windows from a seller/installer had installedthe recommended windows. The window sellers/installers in Jämtland prefer awindow that is reasonably energy efficient. The majority will not recommend awindow with a U‐value of &lt; 1.2 W/m2K mainly because they were concerned aboutcondensation issues and about the high prices of such windows. Approximately80% of homeowners who availed themselves of the investment subsidy installedwindows with a U‐value of 1.2 W/m2K. Like the window sellers/installers,homeowners cited condensation issues and high prices as reasons for not buyingmore energy‐efficient windows. This finding suggests that windowsellers/installers have strong influence in homeowners’ choice of windows.Therefore to increase the adoption rate of more energy‐efficient windows inexisting single‐family houses, it may be necessary to address windowsellers’/installers’ concerns about these windows.<br>Energieffektiviseringar inom bostadssektorn kan ge flera vinster somminskade utsläpp av växthusgaser, ökad energisäkerheten, fler arbetstillfällen ochförbättrad inomhusmiljö. Det finns en stor potential att förbättraenergieffektiviteten i befintliga bostäder i Sverige. Många av de energiåtgärdersom kan implementeras är också kostnadseffektiva. Emellertid är framgångsrikimplementering av energiåtgärder beroende av många faktorer, inklusive attityderoch uppfattningar hos inblandade aktörer. I enfamiljsvillor är villaägarna viktigaaktörer för spridningen av energiåtgärder eftersom de beslutar om huruvidasådana åtgärder ska genomföras. Här används en adopter‐centrerad metod för attstudera villaägares genomförande av energiåtgärder och intentioner att genomförasådana åtgärder. Två skriftliga enkätundersökningar har genomförts blandvillaägare, den ena var en nationell undersökning, och den andra avgränsades tilltvå län och skickades till hushåll som hade installerat energieffektiva fönster.Statligt finansierade förändringsagenter och privata aktörer somförsäljare/installatörer kan påverka husägares beslut om genomförande. Därförgenomfördes en enkätundersökning bland kommunala energirådgivare över helaSverige och bland försäljare/installatörer av fönster i Jämtlands län för att förståderas uppfattning och attityder till energiåtgärder.Resultaten visar att majoriteten av villaägarna ansåg det viktigt att minskaenergianvändningen i hushållet, och att de flesta föredrog att genomförakostnadsfria åtgärder (t.ex. att släcka lampor). Majoriteten (70‐90%) av devillaägare som svarat på enkäten hade inte för avsikt att genomföraenergiförbättrande investeringar i byggnadens ytterhölje huvudsakligen eftersomde var nöjda med de befintliga komponenterna.Villaägare som ansåg att de hade hög energikostnad var mer benägna attgöra en energiåtgärd som krävde investeringar jämfört med de som ansåg att dehade låg energikostnad. Investeringskostnad och årlig energikostnadsbesparingvar de viktigaste faktorerna för att genomföra energiåtgärder i byggnadensytterhölje. Även om de flesta villaägare inte ansåg att deras energikostnader varhög så ansåg de ändå att det var viktigt att minska energikostnaderna i hushållet.Av den orsaken kan ekonomiska stimulanser förmå villaägare att genomförasådana åtgärder. Ökning av energipriset kan påverka fler villaägare att genomföraenergiåtgärder eftersom det högre energipriset ytterligare kan förbättrakostnadseffektiviteten av sådana åtgärder. Emellertid ansåg majoriteten avvillaägarna att energi‐ och CO2‐skatter inte var ett effektivt politiskt instrumentsom uppmuntrar dem att genomföra energiåtgärder.ivVillaägarna ansåg att personlig kommunikation från byggare, försäljare ochinstallatörer var viktiga informationskällor för att genomföra energiåtgärder.Energirådgivningstjänsten kan vara ett viktigt instrument för att främjaenergieffektivitet, men ca 50% av villaägarna känner inte till denna service. Endast14 % av villaägarna hade konsulterat energirådgivare, och av dessa hade 57%(d.v.s. 8% av alla som svarat på enkäten) genomfört förslagna åtgärder. Såledesbehövs mer insatser för att öka medvetenhet om och effektiviteten hosenergirådgivningstjänster. Majoriteten av kommunala energirådgivare trodde attökat ekonomiskt stöd och mer utbildning i tekniska aspekter av energifrågor skulleförbättra deras resultat.Aktörer nära villaägare i efterfrågekedjan, såsom försäljare och installatörer,kan spela en viktig roll i villaägarnas genomförande av energiåtgärder. Cirka 97%av de villaägare som svarat och som fått rekommendation om vissa fönster från enförsäljare/installatör hade också installerat de rekommenderade fönstren.Försäljare/installatörer av fönster i Jämtland föredrar ett fönster som är måttligt energieffektivt. Majoriteten rekommenderade inte fönster med U‐värde &lt;1,2W/m2K huvudsakligen på grund av kondensfrågor och de höga priserna på dessafönster. Cirka 80% av de villaägare som använt sig av bidrag för installation avfönster installerade fönster med ett U‐värde på 1,2 W/m2K. Liksomförsäljare/installatörer av fönster angav villaägare kondensproblem och höga prisersom skäl för att inte köpa fönster som var mer energieffektiva. Dessa resultatindikerar att försäljare/installatörer av fönster har stort inflytande på villaägaresval av nya fönster. För att öka spridningen av mer energieffektiva fönster ibefintliga småhus, kan riktad information till försäljare/installatörer behövas somsakligt redovisar för‐ och nackdelar med energieffektiva fönster.

Credit models are essential to control credit risk and accurately predicting bankruptcy and financial distress is even more necessary after the recent global financial crisis. Although accounting and financial information have been the main variables in corporate credit models for decades, academics continue searching for new attributes to model the probability of default. This thesis investigates the use of corporate efficiency and corporate governance measures in standard statistical credit models using cross-sectional and hazard models. Relative efficiency as calculated by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) can be used in prediction but most previous literature that has used such variables has failed to follow the assumptions of Variable Returns to Scale and sample homogeneity and hence the efficiency may not be correctly measured. This research has built industry specific models to successfully incorporate DEA efficiency scores for different industries and it is the first to decompose overall Technical Efficiency into Pure Technical Efficiency and Scale Efficiency in the context of modelling financial distress. It has been found that efficiency measures can improve the predictive accuracy and Scale Efficiency is a more important measure of efficiency than others. Furthermore, as no literature has attempted a panel analysis of DEA scores to predict distress, this research has extended the cross sectional analysis to a survival analysis by using Malmquist DEA and discrete hazard models. Results show that dynamic efficiency scores calculated with reference to the global efficiency frontier have the best discriminant power to classify distressed and non-distressed companies. Four groups of corporate governance measures, board composition, ownership structure, management compensation and director and manager characteristics, are incorporated in the hazard models to predict financial distress. It has been found that state control, institutional ownership, salaries to independent directors, the Chair’s age, the CEO’s education, the work location of independent directors and the concurrent position of the CEO have significant associations with the risk of financial distress. The best predictive accuracy is made from the model of governance measures, financial ratios and macroeconomic variables. Policy implications are advised to the regulatory commission.